Agricultural implements such as planters and fertilizers are commonly known in the agricultural industry. Such implements typically include a material hopper and a material dispensing mechanism installed on a wheeled frame structure. The dispensing mechanism includes a manifold that dispenses materials through a plurality of outlet conduits. Typically, the outlet conduits are arranged in side-by-side relation to each other and in combination extend in a generally fore-and-aft direction relative to the frame.
To reduce the number of passes a farmer must make across a field and to increase implement efficiency, a plurality of discharge stations are provided on the frame at transverse remote locations relative to the material dispensing mechanism. To effect delivery of material between the hopper and each discharge station, a series of conveying tubes of different elongated lengths are connected to the outlet conduits of the material dispensing mechanism. Each conveying tube extends to an individual discharge station where the material is deposited to the ground as the frame structure travels across a field. A material distribution system of this general type is shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,860,146, issued Jan. 14, 1975, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,637,108, issued Jan. 25, 1972.
One difficulty with these types of material distribution systems is the delivery of the material from the outlet conduits of the dispensing mechanism to the discharge stations. As known, the conveying tubes are specifically sized to extend from the outlet conduit to a corresponding discharge station. In some distribution systems, some of the conveying tubes can measure as long as 16 feet in length or even longer.
Because the discharge stations are generally located transversely to the dispensing mechanism, the conveying tubes may make several twists and bends up to 90.degree. along their lengths to reach the discharge stations. Accordingly, a manual intensive effort is involved to properly develop a conveying tube leading to those discharge stations located on the frame transversely from the material dispensing mechanism. As is known, this bending of the tubes causes added stress to the tubes as the frame structure travels across the field, which can lead to breakage and require replacement of one or more entire tubes.
The configuration of these tubes for connection to the outlet conduits can cause additional reliability and maintenance problems. For example, a swedging process has been utilized to configure the ends of the tubes for telescopically receiving the outlet conduits. Because the tubes are specifically sized, mistakes or other human errors occurring during the swedging process can result in a defective tube that must be scrapped or used for another purpose. Depending in part on the experience of the person making the swedged tube, and primarily because swedging is a manual process, consistency between the swedged tube ends is sometimes a problem. As will be appreciated, such wasteful use of tubing can quickly lead to unnecessary and undesirable increases in operational costs of the implement.
Moreover, even when successfully accomplished, the swedging process tends to harden the end portion of the tube thus making it more susceptible to damage and breakage. Whether because of the bending or the hardening of the material, if the tube breaks or fails, normally the entire tube has to be replaced by a new "swedged-end" tube, which is both costly and time consuming.
In order to avoid the problems associated with swedging the tubes, some material distribution systems simply provide oversized tubes with the ends clamped to the outside of the outlet conduits. However, these types of connections tend to create obstructions in the flow of material between the outlet conduits and the tubes, thus decreasing the accuracy of material flow to the discharge stations.
As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, decreasing the accuracy of material flow through the tubes results in planting problems and attendant drawbacks associated therewith. In addition, a larger diameter tube decreases the material flow rate in the tube.
Thus, it remains desirable to provide a connector which has a smooth transition for facilitating material flow and also directs the flow of material from an outlet conduit toward a discharge station.